Review: The Selection by Kiera Cass

The Selection
Kiera Cass
Series: The Selection #1
Publication date: April 24th 2012 by HarperTeen
Rating: 3 stars


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For thirty-five girls, the Selection is the chance of a lifetime. The opportunity to escape the life laid out for them since birth. To be swept up in a world of glittering gowns and priceless jewels. To live in a palace and compete for the heart of gorgeous Prince Maxon.

But for America Singer, being Selected is a nightmare. It means turning her back on her secret love with Aspen, who is a caste below her. Leaving her home to enter a fierce competition for a crown she doesn't want. Living in a palace that is constantly threatened by violent rebel attacks.

Then America meets Prince Maxon. Gradually, she starts to question all the plans she's made for herself--and realizes that the life she's always dreamed of may not compare to a future she never imagined.

I don't really like comparing things, but with this books is just kind of impossible.

We have a The Bachelor/The Hunger Games crossover in our hands.

The world is divided by castes: from royalties, Ones, to those who have nothing, Eights. America is a Five, struggling to get by, but still pretty happy with here she is in live. She has her music, her boyfriend Aspen, a Six, who she's desperately in love with, and she has no desire to sign up for the Selection or be the queen.

That is until Aspen tells her to.

Because being part of the Selection comes with financial compensation, and America can't deny that her family needs the money. That Aspen's family needs the money. And that if they ever plan on getting married, they'll need some savings themselves. So she agrees, not knowing that decision would change her life forever.

The contest part of the book was nice, but then again, I'm a sucker for those kind of things. The entire story just sort of made me feel like I had read it all before, but I still found myself intrigued by some aspects of it. Like what is Marlee's secret is, what's the reason behinds the attacks to the royals, if America will figure out that Aspen treated her horribly...

Maybe that'll prompt me to read the sequel, but I'm not sure.